BallOfSpray

 

Let’s face it, our sport is not easy. We shred water at high speeds and with little time to do it, we hit solid ramps doubling the speed of the boat pulling us, and we make extremely acrobatic moves in 20 heart-breaking seconds. Most of these features of our sport are common to pro skiers and amateurs, male and female, young and old. Also, these features are those that sometimes frustrate us when we are in the process of learning a new trick, or to change our position on the slalom ski or on the big jumpers. In my very small coaching experience, I keep hearing things such as “you are giving me too much information” or “I feel like I have no time to think about it”. Needless to say that, as a skier, I happen to make such remarks to my coach as well. So, how can we avoid such problem? Unfortunately, most people tend to rely solely on repetition, with their mentors stressing the fact that the more you repeat a certain movement, the more natural it becomes. Even though this notion is true on a certain extent, it is not the only factor involved in skill acquisition. Many other factors are involved, such as trust in the person coaching, emotional status during practice, beliefs about the technical aspects of a certain movement, and so on. The factor I want to explore in this article has to do with having a clear picture of what it is that you are trying to work on, and use a technique called mental imagery (also known as visualization) to help the process of skill acquisition.